CONTROVERSIAL businessman Kenneth Dong was allegedly identified as one of the suppliers of party drugs in Cebu.

This was revealed by Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Royina Garma, who said she received a report about Dong’s involvement in distributing Ecstasy tablets.

Garma said the report needs validation. Dong is one of the former owners of a club in Mandaue City.

The police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7, she said, are monitoring some clubs where party drugs are reportedly sold to rich teenagers.

On Monday, Feb. 4, Dong was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation in Muntinlupa for his alleged involvement as middleman in the P6.4-billion shabu shipment that slipped past the Bureau of Customs in 2017.

Garma said Ecstasy tablets are being sold in disco bars and her investigators are looking into the possible involvement of Dong.

“There’s also a report that liquefied shabu is also proliferating there. But we still don’t know if it’s his. It’s still speculative, but PDEA knows that,” Garma told Superbalita Cebu.

The police official said the CCPO and PDEA 7 are monitoring a personality who is possibly the brains behind the trading of Ecstasy tablets in Cebu.

Meanwhile, a call center agent was arrested on Thursday night, Feb. 7, after selling Ecstasy tablets to a narcotics agent.

PDEA 7 Director Wardley Getalla said his agents, with the help of the Regional Intelligence Division of Police Regional Office 7, placed Laput under surveillance after the suspect’s name surfaced as one of the suppliers of Ecstasy during the Sinulog season last month.

Past 8 p.m. on Thursday, undercover agents transacted with Laput, who agreed to meet them on Escario St. in Barangay Capitol Site.

Laput told Superbalita Cebu he had difficulty paying the P3,500 rental fee for his boarding house and a certain Matoy forced him to sell Ecstasy tablets to their customers, who are mostly rich kids.

He said he was still new in the illegal activity.

“It was Matoy who pressured me. He kept on telling me I was the only one who could sell it, promising to pay the rent in return. I am not a pusher, sir. I was only ordered,” Laput said.

But the PDEA disputed the claim, saying Laput was already in the business for some time.

Investigators said they are now tracing which group Laput belongs to, adding he may have been working with three to four cohorts.

Getalla said he was confused about Laput’s decision to transact outside a bar.

The PDEA 7 has been monitoring bars where party drugs are rampant, and these are the places that Laput often sold his supplies.

Getalla said the suspect had nothing to do with the death of a 19-year-old woman, who collapsed after she reportedly took a party drug during a concert on the eve of the Sinulog Festival. (from AYB of Superbalita Cebu, KAL)

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte admitted on Friday that his “own government is his enemy” in his war on drugs.

Speaking at Peace and Order Summit for Barangay Officials in Legazpi City in Albay, Duterte admitted he was wrong when he promised to end the illegal drug problem in the country with the first three to six months of his office.

“I boasted. I said I will finish it in six months,” he said.

“How can I solve it in six months if my enemy is the Bureau of Customs, police generals, all those in Naia? My enemy is my own government,” he added.

Duterte has received global condemnation for his brutal war on drugs, which authorizes said had claimed close to 5, 000 individuals./ac

PDEA spokesperson Derrick Carreon said the three allegedly sold the drugs to their friends and clients at parties and clubs in Quezon City. He added they are also investigating if the three had celebrity clients.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police are investigating if the P51-million worth of suspected drugs confiscated from a posh subdivision in Mandaue City on Friday evening, February 8, had come from drug personalities based in Ozamiz City.

Chief Superintendent Debold Sinas, Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) director, said during a press briefing on Saturday, February 9, that they had learned that the suspect caught during the dawn raid, identified as Charlie Fortuna, allegedly had links to several drug personalities based in Ozamiz City.

Aside from that, Sinas said that Fortuna was originally from Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental in Mindanao.

“Ni-ingon man gyud siya nga he is originally from Ozamiz. Naa iyahang friends didto. We suspected, and we have reasons to believe that the drugs came from Ozamiz, and not directly from Manila,” he added.

Sinas also said that the PRO-7 was coordinating with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine Coast Guard to widen their network of information with regard to this case, especially since it would be difficult to monitor Cebu’s ports.

“We’re coordinating with PDEA, and requesting the Philippine Coast Guard for their assistance. But lisod mag monitor sa piers as of now. That’s why we sometimes base our monitoring from the reports or information we receive,” said Sinas.

However, when asked if Fortuna had any connection with the Parojinogs of Ozamiz City, Sinas said that they had not yet found any link of the suspect to the Parojinogs.

“We believe this group came from Ozamiz. Gi assess gyud namo ang mga nakalink niya sa Ozamiz City, and whether he is directly involved with them. On that (Parojinogs), wala pami makit-an (nga evidence),” he added.

The Parojinogs in Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental were tagged by President Rodrigo Duterte as narco-politicians or elected officials who allegedly have links in the illegal drug trade.

A year later, Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo “Aldong” Parojinog Sr. and 11 others were killed by police serving arrest warrants on drug charges against the mayor.

Agents from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency last Friday seized some P2.8 million worth of illegal drugs from one of the alleged top suppliers of party drugs in Metro Manila.

At a press conference on Saturday, the PDEA presented 24-year-old suspect Ruth Ann Mabalay, authorities tagged as one of the main suppliers of party drugs in the National Capital Region.

Authorities last Friday night collared Mabalay in a buy-bust operation in Makati City. Arrested along with her were her sister Sara Mae, event organizer Ryan Christopher Somera, and a Filipino-Japanese identified as Tetsuya Tristan Sasaki.

PDEA agent Wenifredo Alagabia Jr., team leader of the operation, said Sarah Mae was an accomplice in the drug business, while Somera and Sasaki were customers and allegedly drug pushers.

Seized from the suspects were different kinds of party drugs, including ecstasy tablets and capsules, kush or high-grade marijuana, and cocaine.

Alagabia said the group had been supplying party drugs to party-goers in different high-end bars in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City, Quezon City, and possibly Makati City.

According to Alagabia, the seized illegal drugs came from Amsterdam in The Netherlands, and that Ruth Ann used to transact online with her suppliers abroad.

The suspects, however, denied the allegations.

PDEA said the suspects will be facing charges for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. —LBG, GMA News

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A Talisay resident’s plan to earn enough money for his soon-to-be born child did not end well after he was arrested in an anti-illegal drugs operation on Saturday, February 9.

Stephen Macaraya and his former girlfriend Nelly Flor Marcelo, who are both 22 years old, were arrested after they were caught with 36.02 grams of suspected shabu during a buy-bust operation in Sitio Mananga, Barangay Tabunok in Talisay City, said Senior Inspector Alejandro Batobalonos, Provincial Police Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU) chief.

Batobalonos said that the estimated Dangerous Drugs Board value of the suspected shabu was P244,936.

He said that the operation was conducted after they received reports about Macaraya’s illegal drug activities in the barangay.

He said that they had monitored the activities of the suspect for eight days before they conducted the operation.

When sought for comment on his, Macaraya, who makes fashion accessories made of silver, said he wanted to earn extra income especially since his girlfriend was pregnant.

Macaraya and Marcelo were detained at the Provincial police detention cell pending the filing of charges./dbs

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte conceded on Friday that waging a war on illegal drugs where his own government is his enemy was not an easy task.

Duterte, a former city mayor, beat his more moneyed rivals and won the race to Malacañang in 2016 promising to eradicate crime and solve his country’s drug menace in three to six months. He later sought a six-month extension to his drug crackdown, saying he was shocked by the magnitude of the problem when he became president.

In a speech in Legazpi City, Albay, Duterte admitted he was wrong to assume he can meet his self-imposed deadline of eliminating narcotics.

“I boasted that I can end the illegal drugs trade in six months. I really thought I could do it,” the firebrand leader said in Filipino.

“How can I solve it in six months, my enemies are the Bureau of Customs, police generals. They’re all in [Ninoy Aquino International Airport]. My enemy is my own government,” he added.

Human rights watchdogs say most of the fatalities in the government’s anti-narcotic drive are extrajudicial killings committed by cops, something the Duterte administration has vehemently denied.

Despite instigating a chilling war on drugs, multi-billion peso worth of methamphetamines, or “shabu” as it is known, reportedly slipped through the Bureau of Customs twice in two years. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral

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